{New House}

Today I am skipping our regularly scheduled program (Wednesday Weigh In) to bring you what we have been doing the last few days. MOVING. And because my scale is still packed and I haven't worked out or watched my eating. I am scared to see what the scale says.

We have thought long and hard about where we wanted to watch our kids grow up. We have been in Midway/Heber for the last 4 years moving around and trying to find roots. With Dave losing his business last year and trying to work his way up to a new career we have been struggling. The housing market is horrible and we can't sell the house that we had to move out of because we couldn't afford. Thank goodness we found renters. ANYWHO! way too much information but what it boiled down to is where we would be happy? We found ourselves driving down to the valley every weekend to spend time with family and friends. Houses in Midway and Heber are extremely high and could never afford. So we looked at a new area in Saratoga Springs and the prices were very good. I found one that I liked, made a phone call and everything seemed to just fall into place. Now I just need to find a good job closer to our new home, right now I am commuting which actually isn't that bad except for the thought that is going through your mind right now. GAS. Gas is going to kill me but I can't just up and quit my job without finding another. So if any of you know of a good job in Utah County or Sandy/Draper/Riverton area let me know! I have been doing secretarial work for 15 years.

Here are a few pictures of our house. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom rambler with an unfinished basement. Perfect size for our little family. We are really enjoying it so far, the boys have already made friends and we have been invited to a neighborhood BBQ.

{We Moved, New Job, Birthday Wishes}

Whew....this weekend was so hectic trying to get everything moved. We only moved down the street so I didn't do a lot of packing, just throw stuff on the trailer and hope it doesn't fall off! LOL Now the big job of finding a place for everything. That is going to take a while. I am going to a 3 day scrapbook retreat this weekend and my stuff is all over the place. Needless to say, my scrapbook stuff we be organized before the rest of the house. PRIORITIES!!!

We didn't even have half of the stuff in the house before Garrett decided he needed to meet the neighbors. I told him to wait a few days til we could get settled but it was killing him...so off he went to be the little social bug that he is. Come to find out there are 2 boys (twins) his age. Thank goodness!!!

Dave is LOVING his new job. His supervisor is showing him the ropes, Dave is doing more than guys that have been there for 4 years. I guess that means they like him. Dave IS a hard worker and is good at building anything whether it is a house or a swimming pool. I have a feeling he is going to move up in the company quickly.

Happy Birthday to my brother Kent!! BIG 3 7, almost over the hill!

{Life changes}

We have had some major life changes in the last 3 weeks, it has been such a stressful time for us but we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. (I hope)

Just after we got back from Hawaii, Dave got the news that Ivory Homes (who he builds homes for) was slowing down and they didn't need him anymore. um.... please wake me up from this nightmare now!! Ivory Homes was our whole business!! Dave frantically looked around for more work but not only was Ivory slowing down but the entire housing market was slowing down. What were we going to do!?

Do what anyone would do, find a job! Dave has been framing for 12 years, that is all he knows, how could he start a new career without starting at the bottom? His brother Kory called and offered him a job at Trugreen Chemlawn, it was a great idea and Dave went down the next day to work it all out. Come to find out the job wasn't going to pay what we had hoped. My brother Lynn had called and offered him a job as well but at that time Dave thought the job with Kory was going to work out so he told Lynn no. Dave immediately called Lynn and asked if the offer was still good. It was! THANK YOU LYNN!!!!

The company is called CEM. http://www.cemsalesandservice.com/index.html
They service swimming pools from the start of construction and operation to maintenance and renovation.

Dave was assigned to the new recreation center in Vernal, Utah (about 2 hours away). Instead of driving home every day, the company has a house for the employees to stay at. They work 12 hour days on Mon, Tues, Wed and half of a day Thursday. They come home Thursday afternoon, having Friday and the weekend off. Dave started last Tuesday (Sept 25th) He loves it!! It is so different from what he has been doing for the last 12 years. Framing is very physically draining and takes a toll on your body, Dave was always worried about what he was going to do in 10 years, well......I think he just found the answer to that question.

Our house payment was the next thing we thought of, there was no way we could afford it without the money that normally came in. We needed to sell it, but how can we sell it right now when the housing market is down? Well, some friends of ours knew someone moving from California looking for a place temporarily and our house was perfect for him. He was willing to rent with the knowledge that it was going up for sale. So, within a week we were looking for a place to live. That very same day driving home from work I see a For Rent sign go up at a house about 4 blocks from our house. I immediately called the number and with no questions asked he agreed to rent it to us. We are moving this weekend!

What a whirlwind! For anyone going through something similar or anything else that is stressful all I can say is hang in there and be positive. Thankfully Dave and I were able to handle the stress together rather than argue, it actually brought our relationship a little bit closer, if that is possible!


I have always had the belief that things happen for a reason and the chain of events lately is proof of that.